BPP Partnership Impact Series: Empowering women and communities with clean energy in Vanuatu
Since its launch, the Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) has worked with ambitious partners to deliver meaningful, lasting change in communities across the world. The BPP Partnership Impact Series celebrates the outcomes and lessons from our partnerships, highlighting their contributions to inclusive economic growth, resilience and sustainable development.
Our Off-Grid Renewable Energy partnerships across the Pacific and Timor-Leste focused on sustainable, locally-led solutions that expand energy access for remote and rural communities, while delivering tangible social and economic benefits. They are pilots for REnew Pacific, the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific’s (AIFFP) $75 million investment to scale off-grid renewable energy across the region. This partnership equipped households and community centres with solar lighting and charging systems, and trained women as technicians and operations managers to support sustainable long-term system management within the community.
Empowering women and communities with clean energy in Vanuatu
A partnership between ActionAid Australia, ActionAid Vanuatu, PowerWells, local women’s forum Women I Tok Tok Tugeta (WITTT) network and the Australian Government, through the Business Partnerships Platform (BPP), is transforming access to clean energy in remote communities in Vanuatu.
Delivered in Lawital, North Tanna, the initiative has provided reliable, off-grid solar energy to every household in the community, placing women at the centre of leadership, delivery and long-term sustainability.
Prior to the project, most households relied on kerosene lamps, candles or small solar lights, limiting productivity, safety and access to essential services after dark. Today, solar lighting, charging systems and streetlights are enabling safer, more connected and economically active communities.
Key highlights
Highlights from the BPP partnership included:
- 1,380 people (including 575 women) now have reliable access to clean energy
- Women-led PAYGo model generating sustainable income for maintenance and operation
- Women technicians earning ongoing income through system installation and repairs
- Increased household income, with women reporting up to threefold increases in production
- Improved safety, with reduced reports of gender-based violence and increased freedom of movement at night
- Significant improvements in education outcomes, with more students completing secondary school
Delivery snapshot
- 119 households equipped with solar lighting and charging systems
- 5 community centres powered with solar energy
- 10 solar streetlights installed across public spaces
- 50 solar lantern–power banks distributed
- 60 women trained in system use and management
- 3 women trained as paid solar technicians delivering installation and maintenance
Reliable energy is enabling transformational change across the community. Women are using additional evening hours to generate income through handicrafts and food preparation, while children now have consistent lighting to study. Public lighting has improved safety and strengthened community cohesion, allowing people to gather, work and move safely after dark.
Access to phone charging has also improved connectivity, enabling communities to receive weather alerts and stay connected during emergencies which is critical in a region regularly impacted by cyclones.
A defining feature of the project is its women-led model. Women designed and manage a community-owned pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) system, ensuring financial sustainability and local ownership.
Through partnerships like this, the Australian Government is supporting locally led solutions that expand access to renewable energy while strengthening livelihoods, resilience and gender equality across the Pacificother communities, particularly through partnerships with local organisations and community networks.
View the full partnership impact story below or download here.
